Sounds a lot like a trip to Las Vegas huh?…well,
I’m not
talking about American Slot Machines here: I’m talking about
Japanese Pachislo “Skill-Stop” machines, also commonly called
"Pachislots" here in the US.

What the heck are they? Well, a lot like American slot
machines actually, but with a few major differences.

This is an example of a Pachislo Machine featuring Harley Davidson:

Harley Pachislo
(Photo
Courtesy of Stealth Home Amusement)

Pachislo machines come from Japan and are used in Pachinko
parlors (Click here for
more info on Pachinko) and Pachislo parlors and are located predominantly
in the Ginza (Tokyo) area of Japan. Picture a casino with nothing but slot
machines lined up in neat rows…lots of neat rows.

(For an excellent Pachislo overview
a quick visit to the website
by Sammy/Sega is a must. If you
want to see a machine in action in an actual parlor be sure to press “4” when
you get to the site.)

The pachinko industry, including Pachislo, pulls in
about 29-trillion yen ($315-billion) each year. That's nearly four times
the revenue from legal casino gambling worldwide, as estimated by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

To get another idea on the scale of sales and
popularity…consider
this: Hokuto is a fairly recent best selling Pachislo Machine made by
Sammy/Sega. Sammy/Sega is Japan's largest Pachislo maker and to date has
sold over 620,000 of them. A game is considered a hit if sales reach 20,000.
So Hokuto is a genuine blockbuster in modern Pachislo sales.

Many of the machines seem to feature a lot of
English, so home use is easy in the U.S. In addition, you’ll find
many American cultural icons including pop cultural references that seem
to strongly influence the designs of the machines. Here are some examples—

With approximately 116,000,000 of these machines in
circulation/use, these games are so popular in Japan that companies often
have Sony PlayStation and cell phone versions of their games as well as
merchandise featuring game machine logos/designs on cigarette lighters,
action figures, instant noodles and even mini refrigerators.

Music CDs similar to the game music CDs that sometime
hit the US are made of the more popular game machine soundtracks. Some
of the music CDs are so popular some of the songs have made it onto Japanese
radio’s
top 10.

So what exactly are these machines?

Pachislo machines operate on tokens (.984", the exact
same size as the BYOAC and MAME tokens by the way) rather than coins. They
play across five to seven different lines, 1-3 tokens per spin.

Each machine weighs 80 to 95 pounds with dimensions
approximately 34" high
by 24" wide and 14" deep. The more modern machines are crammed
with high-resolution LCD screens, dozens of LED lights, fantastic crystal
clear & powerful multi-speaker stereo systems and in some cases additional
reels to make standard play more exciting and interesting. (For a great
behind the scenes on how these machines are built, click
here.)

All of these machines have payout levels (odds) that are operator defined
on six different levels (with six being the easiest or loosest).

Tokens are sold in packs of 50 and will last for
about 5-10 minutes depending on your skill and a bit of luck. Upon a
win the tokens are traded in for prizes (similar to our American arcade
trade in of tickets at the redemption counters for prizes, but you get
better stuff in Japan!). Some typical prizes include CDs, CD players,
LCD TV’s, Golf Clubs, Stuffed Animals,
and Food etc.

Pachislo machines are referred to as “skill stops” because
the player utilizes a set of 3 buttons (one under each reel) to manually
stop the reel. Apparently, with a lot of practice one can actually control
the outcome. Basically, you have approximately .75 seconds to “pick” out
a specific reel stop (ex. Cherries) and some folks are able to do this
with extreme accuracy each and every time. In Vegas the reels stop at random
by themselves….so the outcome is under the control of the machine,
and thus it’s considered gambling. Playing Pachislo requires player
skill to press the reel stop at the right time and is therefore not considered
gambling, which is illegal in Japan.

But it appears that recently,
the Japanese authorities are concerned that these machine are become
too much like gambling machines as you can see from this quote from
the 2004 Sammy/Sega Annual report —

“In 2003, on the back of Pachislo’s
growing popularity, the number of halls devoted entirely to Pachislo
machines increased and existing halls incorporated more Pachislo
machines. As a result, the number of operational Pachislo machines
was up from the previous year. Recently, there has been a trend toward
restricting the gambling elements of Pachislo machines, such as the
August 2003 introduction of stricter tests by the Security Electronics
and Communications Technology Association and regulatory revisions
enacted in July 2004. In response to the new market environment that
such regulatory amendments have created, manufacturers of Pachislo
machines are steadily marketing machines with a stronger emphasis
on playability and entertainment value.”

Instead of a Vegas style pull handle, Pachislo
machines have a spin knob (kind of like the top of a Wico Ball Top Joystick
but in miniature size and facing towards you) on the front that’s
used to start the reels spinning.

Another major distinction between Vegas style
slots and Pachislo machines is that Pachislo machines offer “Big Bonus and Regular Bonus” Jackpots.
In Vegas, a Jackpot results in an immediate payout, but on a Pachislo
machine you are guaranteed a certain number of tokens (up to 500 in some
cases) with a chance to increase your winnings if you stop the reels correctly
when the machine is in “bonus mode”.

(Want to try a FREE Flash Pachislo machine
from Sammy/Sega?
Click
here!I have to admit it pales in comparison
to the real thing, but it will give you an idea as to game play.)

There are 2 styles of payouts/game styles referred to
as A and B machines. All Pachislo machines look similar, so the distinction
here is the style/method of payout:

TYPE A- Big Bonus

When you hit the jackpot on this style of machine
you’ll get 24
guaranteed wins. Again, instead of a Vegas style flood of coins, these
machines dole out your winnings, making it a lot more exciting. The big
bonus round is set up with 2 or 3 sets of 8 guaranteed wins, between round
1 and 2 and also 2 and 3 there is a “sub-bonus” period with
increased odds. This period continues until you hit a free game and then
the guaranteed payouts continue.

TYPE B – Challenge

This is essentially as above in Type A machines….but if you light
up a “Big Challenge” or some other similarly named challenge
on a type B you will have the opportunity to play over 200 consecutive
games with increased odds to win over 600 or more tokens. These challenge
rounds can last up to 15 minutes to fully play out the challenge rounds.